Druggist s safe



T. KNOBBBL.

DRUGGIST'S SAFE.

Patented Deo. l5, 1885.

@d 9v. .HUHL

WI TJVEIS'SELS' PEl UNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE. t

THOMAS KNOEBEL, OF EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS.

DRUGGSTS SAFE.

5?EC.IFECATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 332,661, dated December l5, 1885.

Application filed November Q, 1895. Seiial No. 181,780. (No nio(l.=l.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, Trioiias Krenn-EL, a citizen ofthe United States, and a resident of Fast St. Louis, in the county of St. Clair and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Druggists7 Safes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a front view of my improved cabinet. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same on line x x, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line y y, Fig. l, and Fig. 4 is a perspective detail view of the alarm-operating spring.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

My invention has relation to cabinets for containing bottles filled with poison, which are generally used at a druggists prescriptiondesk; and it consists in the improved construction and combination of parts of such a cabinet, in which an alarm will be sounded whenever a bottle is removed from the cabinet, a spring bearing against the stopper of the bottle in such a manner that the bottle cannot be removed without raising the said spring, which will close an electric current which will cause the alarm to sound, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter A indicates the cabinet, which may contain any desired number of shelves B, which again are subdivided into any desired number of pigeonholes by means of vertical partitions C; and the said cabinet has an open back and swings in a horizontal plane against a back, D, which may either form a part of the wall against which the cabinet is placed or be separate from the same, the said back forming the back of the cabinet when the cabinet is swung toward it, which position it normally occupies. The front of the cabinet may be provided with a suitable door, E, provided with glass, if desired, and the front edges of the shelves are provided with strips F, or wires of copper or brass, which are connected at their ends by means of a vertical strip, G, passing down at one side of the cabinet; IThe rear edges ofthe shelves are provided with similar strips or wires, II, which are connected by means of a vertical strip, I, and the upper ends of the vertical strips are respectively connected to a battery and to a bell, J, which are both provided with suitable ground-coiinection.

A small V-shaped spring, K, having its upper arm bent upward at its end to forni a lip, L, is secured by this lip under the strip upon the forward edge of a shelf in each pigeonhole, projecting in under the shelf, and a spring-plate, M, is secured at its inner reduced and upwardly-beiit end under the strip upon the rear edge of the same shelf, and this springplate projects forward iii the pigeon-hole under the shelf, being slightly inclined, and the outer edge of the plate is bent upward to form a flange, N, pointed at its middle, which flange will come in contact with the V-shaped spring when the spring plate is raised. Each pigeonhole is 'provided with a low partition, O, dividing it into a forward and rear compartment, and the forward compartment is sufficiently large to accommodate a bottle, while the rear compartment may be of sufficient size to accommodate any number of bottles.

The forward compartment is preferably of sufiicient size to allow a bottle provided with a glass stopper, and of one ounce capacity, to rest within it, the stopper touching the springplate and forcing it slightly upward, while it will not force it sufficiently upward to touch the V- shaped spring, the stopper bearing against the inner portion of the spring-plate; but when a bottle is either removed or inserted the compartment is not sufciently large, either in width or depth, to allow the bottle to be tilted sufficiently to be inserted or removed without pressing the spring-plate up against the V- shaped spring, the stopper being necessarily forced against the outer and lowermost end of the spring-plate at each insertion or removal of a bottle. The point of the iiange upon the outer end of the spring-plate will, on touching the lower arm of the V-shaped spring, close the circuit, and thus sound the alarm, and in this manner a druggist will always be warned by the alarm when he takes a bottle of poison out of the cabinet, the cabinet serving only fao IOO

for the reception of poisons, or the alarm-operating springs being at least only in the pigeon-holes containing poison-bottles.

The druggist will thus be warned to use caution in weighing or measuring the contents of a bottle by the removal of which an alarm is rung, and the other occupants of the drugstore will also be warned when a poison-bottle is removed from the cabinet by the alarm, s0 that they may prevent tampering with the poisons.

The eXtra supply of poisons may be contained in the rear compartments of the cabinet, while only the quantity which it is usually necessary to keep in readiness for prescriptions or other calls will be kept in the bottles in the front compartments.

rIhe spring-plate and Vshaped spring may be bent to suit any size or height of bottle, so that bottles of different sizes may be placed in the same cabinet, the only care to be takenin bending the springs being that the bottle can not be tilted to any side, and thus removed without raising the spring-plate.

Havingthus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesw 1. A druggists cabinet divided into pigeonholes or compartments, and having springs projecting from the tops of the pigeon-holes and bearing against the bottles in the same, and an alarm mechanism, with its operating device,arranged in the path ofthe springs, as and for the purpose shown and set forth.

2. In a druggists cabinet, the combination of a back, a cabinet swinging horizontally against the said back,being hinged at the rear edge of oneofitsside pieces,and having shelves and partitions dividing it into pigeon-holes, transverse partitions dividing each pigeonhole into a forward compartment of the same depth and width, and a larger rear compartment, and springs secured in the tops o f the pigeon-holes bearing against the tops of bottles in the pigeon-holes, and an alarm mechanism, with its operating device arranged in the path of the springs, as and for the pnrpose shown and set forth.

3. The combination of a cabinet subdivided into pigeon-holes and having metallic strips at the forward and rear edges of the horizontal shelves, and having vertical metallic strips connecting the said horizontal strips, a battery having suitable groundconnection and connected to one of the vertical strips, an alarm having suitable ground-connection and connected to the other vertical strip,V-shaped springs secured with the upwardly-bent ends of their upper arms underthe strips upon the forward edges of the shelves,and spring-plates secured with their inner ends under the rear horizontal strips, and having their forward ends formed with flanges having a point for contact withv the lower arms of the V-shaped springs, as and for the purpose shown and set forth. 4. In a druggists cabinet, the combination of a pigeon-hole of the same depth and width, a V-shaped spring secured under the top of the pigeon-hole and having suitable connection to an alarm, and a spring-plate having yits rear end secured at the rear of the top of the pigeon-hole and` having connection with a battery,and provided at its forward end with an Aupwardly bent pointed flange, whereby when a bottle is removed from the pigeon-hole the spring-plate is pushed upward to bring the point in contact with the V-shaped spring, as and for the purpose shown and set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereunto affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS KNOEBEL.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH B. MEssIcK, HENRY C. FAIRBROTHER. 

